


Ranboo's Many Faces

by Weird_bean_Luna



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Swearing, l'manberg, slight mention of manipulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,895
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29007042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weird_bean_Luna/pseuds/Weird_bean_Luna
Summary: Ranboo had always had really bad memory. The gaps in his memory only getting worse and more frequent as time went on. He had seen doctors about it, of course, but all of them sang the same tune. He grew up telling people that he suffers from something commonly referred to as ‘trauma brain’. This just meant that he probably suffered some sort of trauma growing up and his brain basically just says no every time he gets in a stressful or dangerous situation. This was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he never had to remember anything bad that happens to him. On the other, he had to try and piece together what happened during that time. Sometimes he wonders if life would be so bad if he could remember everything.But this wasn't a normal case.orRanboo completely blacks out whenever he gets in a high-stress or dangerous situation. He doesn't fully understand what is happening until joining the Dream SMP.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo & Technoblade & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo/TommyInnit
Kudos: 97





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> I, myself, don't deal with trauma brain so I'm going off what I've been told by a friend who does. Also, that's probably not the scientific name for this but that's what a friend called it and I don't have anything else to call it. If I make scientific mistake please let me know. This is a work of fiction but I want to make it somewhat realistic. Also, Ranboo doesn't have DID (in this fic or in general). This is completely different, educate yourself.

Ranboo had always had really bad memory. The gaps in his memory only getting worse and more frequent as time went on. He had seen doctors about it, of course, but all of them sang the same tune. He grew up telling people that he suffers from something commonly referred to as ‘trauma brain’. This just meant that he probably suffered some sort of trauma growing up and his brain basically just says no every time he gets in a stressful or dangerous situation. This was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he never had to remember anything bad that happens to him. On the other, he had to try and piece together what happened during that time. Sometimes he wonders if life would be so bad if he could remember everything. This whole thing could prove to be a problem as he would be joining an extremely popular SMP today. He had met the majority of the people on there already but he was still new to all of this. See, Ranboo is a foster kid. He’s been moved from home to home since people didn’t know how to deal with his issue. About a year prior, all of the minecraft streamers and youtubers got together in this big call. Ranboo, who was transitioning to his current home, couldn’t have attended even if he was invited. He was just a fan after all. Now as he stared at the button it all seemed too surreal. After working for months, he finally took off and was invited to be a part of the Dream SMP. When he first received the invite he couldn’t believe it but Dream’s sincerity and excitement for Ranboo to join quickly told him otherwise. Here he was, about to join a server with some of the biggest minecraft youtubers. He took a deep breath in before smiling and hitting the joining button. 

Teleporting into the game was not something that was new to Ranboo. In fact, he always handled it better than most did. It was still incredibly weird to feel one’s body dissolve and be replaced with code. Ranboo had always found something comforting in the code of his avatar. He never really liked people knowing what he looks like. There is always comfort in anonymity. As he joined, a cannon went off and he opened up the game chat. The cannon, thank the lord, was simply to signify him joining. The chat filled with welcome wishes and confusion from the few people who didn’t know him, the loudest one being Tommyinnit. Ranboo had to laugh a bit at the confusion his presence caused the loud teen. Closing out of the chat, Ranboo took the time to look around where he had spawned. It was nothing out of the ordinary until his eyes landed on the bright green of a figure he hadn’t seen before. He smiled as he took in the figure, recognising the white smiley-face mask that this seemingly assassin wore. Dream, realising that he had been spotted made his way over. He held out a hand, seemingly asking for a handshake. However, as soon as Ranboo grabbed his hand, the older man tugged Ranboo towards him, messing with the multicolored hair Ranboo’s avatar had.

“It’s good to have you here Ranboo!” Dream said, a smile seemingly on his face.

Ranboo chuckled awkwardly back, finally being released from Dream’s grip. “It’s good to be here. Kinda surprised that you invited me though.”

Dream just shrugged, “You’re a good addition to the server. And hey, you can’t be worse than Tommy.”

The two laughed at this before Dream offered a tour of the server. Ranboo, although he had seen streams and videos, agreed to it. Things could be different from what they seem to be on a screen. The two finally left the spawn area, quickly going over the plot of the server and the rules. Basically don’t do anything unprovoked. Ranboo saw nothing wrong with these rules, they were all fair. Unfortunately, that’s when Dream dropped the bombshell on Ranboo that, unless someone is joining or something is terribly wrong in the real world, everyone stays in character on the server. He, of course, sent the link to the SMP’s discord server to Ranboo beforehand so if he wanted to talk to people out of character he could. Ranboo hadn’t joined the discord server yet, per Dream’s request, so that his entrance would be a surprise. During the tour Ranboo ended up meeting almost everyone that was online. They, the kind souls that they were, gave Ranboo some welcoming gifts. Partly because he was new and partly because he was kinda really far behind them. All in all, he received a set of iron armor from Puffy, a stone pickaxe from Fundy, some food from Bad and Skeppy, and an iron axe from Quackity, which was really only given to him after Quackity harassed the poor guy for a few minutes. The only people online that he hadn’t seen yet were Tommy and Tubbo. As Dream and Ranboo made their way back to the community house, Dream mentioned that he, as well, had a gift for Ranboo. Dream opened his ender chest and pulled out four netherite ingots before turning back to Ranboo.

He held the ingots out to Ranboo. “Here, you’ll make more use out of it than I will.”

Ranboo looked at him in shock as he slowly took the ingots from Dream before opening up the ender chest and putting the netherite in there, that way he’d never lose them. “Thank you Dream.”

Dream, if his face could be visible, would be seen smiling. “It’s no problem.” He paused a moment before opening up a menu. “I have to go but feel free to explore and find a place to stay.”

Ranboo smiled, waving before Dream inevitably dissolved into code to re-enter the real world. Letting out a sigh, Ranboo turned, leaving the community house in the direction of the Badlands. He ran into Puffy, who stopped him with polite conversation. Puffy then ran off towards the Badlands for therapy? Ranboo was a bit confused about that one but shrugged it off, walking in the same direction. He was planning on having a nice stroll to L’manberg. Unfortunately, Tommyinnit had other plans.


	2. The Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It had been several months since Ranboo first joined the server. He actually found himself really enjoying having to be in character whenever he was online. It was actually really relaxing. There were of course exceptions. He found himself starting to forget key details so he decided to write everything in a book that he always kept on his person. Tommy was currently in exile, sort of. He was currently with Technoblade and everyone thinks he’s dead. Ranboo knew better.

It had been several months since Ranboo first joined the server. He actually found himself really enjoying having to be in character whenever he was online. It was actually really relaxing. There were of course exceptions. He found himself starting to forget key details so he decided to write everything in a book that he always kept on his person. Tommy was currently in exile, sort of. He was currently with Technoblade and everyone thinks he’s dead. Ranboo knew better. He didn’t believe Tubbo when he brought them the news. Tommy wasn’t the type to let a person in power win, especially not after all the manipulation Ranboo told him that he was enduring. Ranboo kept that to himself though, not wanting to wear down the young president’s mind further. This, of course, only escalated when Ghostur led Ranboo directly to Technoblade’s house and low and behold Tommy was there. Ranboo sent letters to Tommy and Techno, mainly via Ghostbur, to update them on L’manburg. He never expected a frantic letter to be sent back but there he was, only just logged on and staring at a chest in the middle of his floor that he did not place. He slowly opened it, expecting this to be some sort of Quackity prank or something. He got more nervous when he saw the book. Quickly grabbing it and reading it’s contents, Ranboo sucked in a breath. Dream found out where Tommy was and that Technoblade lied to Dream several times to protect the gremlin child. This severed any trust the two of them had for each other and Dream challenged Techno to a battle on far away grounds. The letter was a plea for help. It didn’t have to come from L’manburg, the blood god simply needed someone to scout ahead to see what Dream had up his sleeve. Ranboo quickly saved the coordinates to his memory book before leaving his house to talk to Phil and Tubbo. Ranboo went to Phil’s house first, he knew he looked panicked and Phil could help him calm down. As Ranboo burst through the door, Phil, who had been in the middle of brewing potions out of pure boredom, jumped. Thankfully Phil hadn’t been holding anything fragile.

“Phil!” Ranboo had to stop himself from screaming the name.

Phil, now calming himself from the mini heart attack, turned to look at Ranboo. “Dude, a little warning next time?”

Ranboo scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment. “Sorry Phil.”

Phil stood up and made his way over before leading Ranboo away from the door. “It’s fine. What’s going on?”

Ranboo started fiddling with his hands and the sleeves of his suit, a clear indication of his anxiety. “I got a note from Technoblade. I’ve been sending him messages for the past month, ever since Ghostbur took me to see him and Tommy. But the thing is, Techno never once sent a letter back. When I logged on there was a chest I never placed in my house and it had this note in it.” 

He handed the note to Phil as he mentioned it, who read it. Phil’s eyes widened as his eyes traversed the note. 

He looked at Ranboo almost frantically. “Who’s going?"

“I plan to. I just need someone to cover for me while I’m gone and I still need to talk to Tubbo.” Ranboo responded.

Phil nodded, “I’ll cover for you, take some swiftness pots. Techno is probably already preparing to leave. You’ll need to gain some ground.” He paused, shoving swiftness potions at Ranboo. “Tubbo should be doing rounds around the place.”

Ranboo nodded, barely juggling the swiftness potions before giving up on that task and putting them in his ender chest. He left Phil, name somewhat calm and ready to tell Tubbo that he was going out for more resources and probably wouldn’t be back for a few days. He told Phil the excuse while packing the potions up. Tubbo would indeed be found making his rounds around the country. He smiled and waved Ranboo over when Tubbo spotted him. Ranboo, now used to putting up a front around the young president, smiled and walked over as if nothing was wrong.

“Ranboo! How are you on this fine day?” Tubbo called out to him.

Ranboo fiddled with his suit behind his back. “I’m good Tubbo, how are you?”

Tubbo nodded, “Good, good. I’m doing well Ranboo.” He paused, a flash of grief barely being able to be caught in his eyes. “I miss him Ranboo.”

“I know you do Tubbo. You two were practically inseparable.” Ranboo reached out a hand and set it on the boy’s shoulder.

Tubbo smiled a bittersweet smile. “Yeah, we were.”  
Ranboo felt bad for the guy but he really needed to be on his way. “Look Tub-”

At that moment a loud and awfully familiar voice boomed from a bit of a distance away, “I’m back bitches!”

Tubbo’s head shot towards the sound of the voice and Ranboo internally groaned. Great. Tommy was breaking his exile. I mean, Dream was probably nowhere near, but Sapnap and George would probably put his head on a platter for this. Ranboo turned to Tommy who was standing on the platform above the one Ranboo and Tubbo were on. Tommy smiled at them before jumping down. Tommy wasn't wearing his normal outfit or even the outfit Ranboo had last seen him in. Tommy was instead covered in pale blues and fur that matched the Antarctic Empire’s color palette.

Tubbo stared in disbelief. “T-Tommy?”

Tommy grinned his signature shit-eating grin. “The one and only!”

Tubbo had tears slipping down his face as he took in the sight of his best friend, “Wha… But you died?”

Tommy looked at him, smiling through the confusion. “I never die!”

Ranboo chuckled at that. “You’ve been gone too long Tommy.”

Tommy sent him a wink, “You know it! I love what you guys have done with the place.”

Tubbo turned to Ranboo, “You knew?”

Ranboo shrugged. “I had my theories. There’s no way Tommy would let Dream win.”

Tommy chuckled, “You bet it big man! No amount of torture would make me lose to that monster!”

Ranboo shot Tommy a look. “Be careful though. You are still exiled to the best of my knowledge. You never know who could be hunting you.” He saw the flash of understanding in Tommy’s eyes that he recognised that Dream might not be here but he would still have to deal with George and Sapnap.

“No. Tommy.” Tubbo interjected. “You are no longer exiled from L’manburg. You helped build this place and I need you by my side.”

The two smiled at each other but Ranboo cleared his throat. “I hate to interrupt but I have to get going. I’m going on a supply run and probably won’t be back for a few days.”

Tubbo nodded, “Alright, safe travels.”

Tommy shot Ranboo a look that he couldn’t decipher and wished him a safe journey as well. Ranboo nodded his thanks to them before setting out on his journey. He didn’t want to nether travel to make sure that the route was safe for Techno to Nether travel. This was going to be a long trip.

_Not necessarily._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like cliffhangers. No the end bit isn't referring the swiftness pots. The coords. that Techno is supposed to meet Dream at are ridiculously far out. Like much much further than the mountain Tommy and Tubbo met Dream on cannonically (which hasn't happened in this fic).x


	3. Chapter 3

He was about an hour into his journey when he first heard it. The voice that is. Ranboo had been lamenting not being able to use nether travel to get there faster. He had to make sure that there weren’t any traps along the way so if Techno were to nether travel, he could easily do so. At the rate he was going he’d probably be there way after Techno got there.

_Not necessarily._

That made Ranboo stop in his tracks. That sounded like Tubbo. But it couldn’t be. Tubbo was back in L’manberg. Ranboo had specifically made sure that he wasn’t followed out. He quickly spun around, scanning his surroundings.

_You weren’t followed._

This only served to confuse the half enderman more. How was he hearing this voice and why? Ranboo, making sure that he was indeed not followed, continued on his way. Shaking the thoughts out of his head. For some reason he immediately felt the urge to start skipping along. This urge was suppressed almost immediately, more questions popping up.

_Aw. Well, either way I can make you go faster. Nyoom._

As soon as the words appeared in Ranboo’s mind he started going at least double the speed as before. Ranboo stopped and opened his stats and found only the speed potion he popped earlier. Now thoroughly confused, Ranboo closed his stats wearily.

“Who-what are you?” He cautiously asked.

_Tubbo! Well, technically I’m just a part of you that sounds and acts like him. Maybe a little more child-like than Tubbo. Anyways, why’d you stop?_

Ranboo nodded. Great, he was losing his mind. Pushing forward, Ranboo continued his journey, now going much faster than he originally was. He still used the speed potions even though it was basically nothing compared to the boost ‘Tubbo’ gave him. Deciding to focus on the task and freak out later, he continued on his way. His speed now boosted by a voice in his head.

_Yay!_

Now Ranboo was about a day out from the coordinates. He hadn’t heard much from the voice other than occasional remarks that Ranboo really just ignored and didn’t respond to. Pulling out his communicator, Ranboo let Phil know to tell Technoblade that the path so far was clear. There had been no traps so if Technoblade was going to nether travel, he should pop out in the area or before. Deciding that he wasn’t tired, Ranboo pushed forward. He ended up arriving at the coordinates just before sunrise. Not trusting anything Dream would set up, he cautiously approached what appeared to be a surfaced mineshaft. What was even more surprising than that spawn mechanic was the line of withers waiting to be spawned, each with one head missing in the middle. Ranboo gasped before quietly ducking into the mineshaft, moving quietly and only in the darkness. It wasn’t until he saw the light of a torch approaching him that he panicked. Dream was there. In the mineshaft. With him. Moving as quickly and quietly as possible, the young hybrid moved away from the direction of the torch. Unfortunately, this meant he had to go deeper into the mineshaft. Once he was sure that Dream wasn’t going to find him, Ranboo pulled out his communicator and sent his coordinates to Phil. Phil would understand that he was in trouble. Quickly tucking his communicator back into his pocket, Ranboo looked around. The coast seemed to be clear for now and all he had to do was wait until Techno inevitably got there or Phil got him some help. He took a deep breath and calmed himself from the spike of anxiety he had gotten. He would be fine, he just needed to get out before Dream found him.

That’s when a sword was thrust up against his neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a shorter chapter but I've been bouncing between writing this and new stories. Possibly slower updates in the future but I am going to make sure that I try to post at least once a week on this.
> 
> -EDIT- 2/24/2021  
> Yeah, once a week was a lie. Got big writers block and have finals coming up.


End file.
